Karin Kanzuki
'Karin Kanzuki '(神月かりん, Kanzuki Karin) is a video game character from the Street Fighter fighting game series. She was originally a character from the Street Fighter manga Sakura Ganbaru!, but her character would be integrated into the video game series starting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 where she appears as a playable character. Biography Family Karin is the daughter of Daigenjuro; their butler is Ishizaki‎, and Shibazaki is the family steward. Karin's father Daigenjuro is a rather strict man as he constantly pushes his daughter into becoming a better heir to the Kanzuki family fortune, as he wanted a son. The wealthy Kanzuki family's mottos are "All you need is victory" (also interpreted as "Be the winner in everything") and, alternately, "The worst we'll ever be is the best". (A bonus short in the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga takes this further with "Victorious, therefore Supreme! Supreme, she is Karin Kanzuki!"). Her family's private estate covers 200 miles of land, and not only has its own geographical features, but its own climate. The Kanzukis are even wealthier than the Masters, so rich that they have their own satellite called "Red Spider-Lily". She was given a son's upbringing because her father always wanted a male heir to his conglomerate. Appearance As a self-styled rival of Sakura, Karin naturally has a similar outfit, complete with sailor fuku, except hers is predominantly red and white with a blue bola tie. She stylises her blonde hair into long, oversized ringlet curls in a Victorian Europe-era fashion with two small forelocks, and occasionally wears a blue bow in the back. She appears to wear underwear on the outside of her black shorts and completes her outfit with matching black socks and short, red boots. She also wears brown fingerless gloves. In Street Fighter V, her outfit appearance has been altered from her original school uniform into a business suit-esque outfit, but has still a resemblance to the original in palette and design. She wears a red long sleeve jacket with a blue frilled shirt and white frilled folded sleeves underneath and a white ascot tie at the center of her collar, and a red frilled skirt with black tights. Her first alternate costume consists of a black turtleneck dress and matching black flats. She also wears a matching black watch on her right wrist and a pendant on her neck. Her ribbon is pink. Her second alternate costume is mostly identical to her main outfit but with a pink sweater vest on her top, a white frilled skirt and matching tights. Her boots are red and white, and her hairstyle remains the same but in a full fringe. Personality Karin's laugh and mannerisms are derived from the unpleasant "ojou" stereotypes common in anime and manga and "rich person"/"popular schoolgirl"/"spoiled brat" stereotypes of Western animated cartoons and movies; while she typically remains snobbish and haughty as per the standard, other aspects of her personality can vary wildly in other media. In Namco x Capcom, Karin is calmer, more level-headed and cynical, and serves as the voice of reason for the impulsive Sakura (though she still retains her trademark laugh and condescending comments during battle sequences). In the UDON comics, on the other hand, she is extremely hateful and competitive to the point of obsessiveness, making her much more of an antagonist. Typical of some rich girls in fictional media, Karin usually refers to other people as "commoners", or inferiors. She lives by her family's motto more than the rest of her family, as she takes majority control of her father's company from under his nose in a hostile takeover (ironic, since he was the one to drive that philosophy into her). After Karin finds and eventually defeats Sakura in a rematch, she feels that she won only "by chance" and finally admits that Sakura is actually the best of them. Karin then decides to ditch her family's motto of "always winning" (at least when concerning martial arts) and starts to praise fighting itself as more important than victory or defeat, showing a bit of humility. One of Sakura's Versus mode win quotes in the Street Fighter IV games implies that she and Karin have become friends sometime after Street Fighter Alpha 3. In Street Fighter V, her character has somewhat changed. As new head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, she is proper and polite at all times, but her haughty demeanor has been replaced, to a degree, by a new respect towards her opponents, and an interest in new and unique fighting styles; while still capable of making unflattering comments towards them if they don't meet her expectations, she seems to have lived up to her previous realization that it is the challenge, not the victory, that is important. By this time, her friendship with Sakura is confirmed, although their rivalry is very much present still. Story Background Karin considers herself a rival of Sakura, who defeated her when challenged. Karin has been given several tests by her father to complete or else she is disqualified from inheriting the family fortune. Her first test was when she was 9, where she was taken to the woods with meager food and water; she had to come home safely or else she'd be disowned (her father struggled two weeks to accomplish this when he was her age, but Karin polished the trial off in 4 days). Another test, based solely on her gender, was that if she didn't charm at minimum 5,000 of the world's gentlemen she cannot inherit the family fortune. Yet another test required her to stop a stampede of fifty wild bulls, single-handedly stopping a running of the bulls at age 14. Karin subdued fifty bulls in all, beating her father's record by one. ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' The Kanzuki corporation is threatened by Shadaloo, which makes demands of the dynasty. She uses the family fortune in an attempt to track down Shadaloo, as well as confronting a roving Sakura to challenge her again. Along the way, she encounters Blanka and defeats him in a friendly match, musing that "the world is so vast" for such a beast to exist. She also encounters R. Mika and battles her, and is so impressed by Mika's ability that she offers the wrestler her sponsorship. Karin eventually finds and defeats Sakura, but realizes the victory was a fluke, and that the fight itself is more important, not winning or losing (as Ken Masters told her this previously). ''Street Fighter V'' Karin was revealed as a returning character for Street Fighter V in September 16, 2015 during the Tokyo Game Show. This is her first playable appearance in the main games since her playable debut in Alpha 3. By the time Street Fighter V takes place, she is now the head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, having succeeded her father; it is confirmed that she still is R. Mika's sponsor. Story Now succeeding her father as the head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu (and currently engaged in direct relationships with the Prime Minister and other heads of state), Karin returns home to the Kanzuki Estate, where Shibazaki and Birdie are waiting for her (in the latter's own backstory, it is revealed that Karin invited him to stay as his guest, impressed by his improvements and as a test of her own leadership); after a sparring match with Birdie which leaves her victorious but unsatisfied, Shibazaki tells her that a worthy challenger could have been found: a mysterious Senjutsu master who fights with an arm sealed (with whom apparently her own grandfather had battled for three days straight). Promptly, Karin decides to go to India. There, she meets Dhalsim, who tells her that the Senjutsu master has been gone by a few days; Karin decides to make up for the lost opportunity and challenges the Yoga master. After a very long match, they both praise each other's skills (Dhalsim's increased mastery of Yoga, and Karin's "pure fist") before the latter teleports away. Just then, Zangief arrives on the scene, being chased by Shadaloo hitmen; Karin dispatches them (apparently with a secret Kanzuki technique), and after that she and Zangief have a match. They part ways satisfied, and Karin returns to Japan. There, she is met at the estate by a friend she has not seen in a while, Sakura; after greeting each other amicably, Karin is quick to assume a battle stance, to which her rival laughs that she hasn't changed a bit, but that's just how she likes it. A Shadow Falls In the game's main story, Karin was seen talking to other business officials during her party and also watches the tag team battle between R. Mika and Zangief against Alex and Laura. When one of the Black Moons created an electromagnetic pulse in New York and its activation, the signals are soon jammed. Karin finally looked at one of the seven Black Moons seeing that it was responsible, she finally decides to investigate in New York and angrily clutches her fists. The next day after investigation, Shibazaki informs her about the solution to stop the Black Moons until Rashid arrives to get the chess piece from her. They battle as Karin wins the fight while trying to hurt his arm. Rashid admits that he is not the enemy and Karin allows him to keep the chess piece before he escapes with Azam. Karin orders Shibazaki to gather all the top fighters here in the estate and Shibazaki accepts. Karin's leadership is also shown to gather all the fighters to stop Shadaloo by collecting the chess pieces to stop their plan and she meets up with Cammy who informs her about the seven Black Moons and the connection of the missing hackers. When Marz and Decapre infiltrate her estate. Karin states that she will teach her uninvited guests in manners by fighting them. Karin eventually takes down Marz while trying to break her arm and warns both Ibuki and R. Mika while they are arguing that she will join their argument if she beats them in satisfactory which makes both disagree and they are satisfied. She makes a mission to all fighters to get the chess piece from Alex and the other is Laura from Brazil. Dhalsim takes his mission in New York, while Ken takes his mission to Brazil with Chun-Li and Cammy. Therefore, Zangief takes his mission with Guile and Karin, Ibuki and R. Mika to infiltrate Shadaloo's main base. As they successfully infiltrate the base and Rashid returns the chess piece back to her, she and Chun-Li manage to stop the plan by completing the six chess pieces. Before that F.A.N.G arrives to confront them making Karin fight him. Karin knocks back F.A.N.G long enough for Chun-Li to halt his plans. F.A.N.G then warns them that he has a back up plan that will never be stopped before he escapes using poison clouds. Since the back up plan was activated and has a time limit, Karin decided to regroup back in her estate while waiting for the helicopter until Guile arrives to take them back including Rashid and a revived Charlie Nash who are chased by Necalli. Karin finally decides to make a final assault back in Shadaloo and she was impressed to see Ryu for the first time in a long time. She already made preparations to infiltrate the base using her family ninjas by her side. During the final assault, she allows Chun-Li, Guile and Ryu to get inside the base while fending off the Shadaloo soldiers and the Dolls. Karin was confronted by Enero who is the leader of the Dolls and both share the same laugh before she manages to takes her down. To her surprise, she finds out Enero was controlled by Psycho Power while she screams in pain, making the fight into a more serious one until she's freed from its control due to F.A.N.G's device being destroyed by Rashid during the confrontation. After Bison was defeated by Ryu, Karin is last seen relieved to see Chun-Li, Ryu and Guile safe upon reuniting with the other fighters. Entourage Karin's butler, Ishizaki, appears in her win poses. Ishizaki is a pudgy but engaging middle-aged Japanese man with burly arms and a warm, welcoming smile. He is always willing to do what Karin wishes of him (such as tending to the opponent's injuries or serving her a cocktail drink), though sometimes he wants to get in on the action and do battle. In addition, Ishizaki was assigned the job of baby-sitting/watching over Karin while she traveled the world, in search of a rematch with Sakura. Since he and her have such a close albeit rocky bond, he can be considered to be her closest friend in the Kanzuki mansion, as he is very proud of her and takes such good care of her. Shibazaki is the Kanzuki family's steward. While steward usually means butler, it has many other definitions, such as a person who manages another's affairs and/or finances. According to Sakura Ganbaru!, he drives her to and from school, arranges her meals (she won't eat school cafeteria food), does background research on anyone she takes interest in (even straying into the TMI territory), and other odd jobs. While concerned for her welfare, especially in regards to her interest in street fighting, he is nonetheless in awe of her abilities as a martial artist and as the heir of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu. Quotes Gallery 502px-KarinSFA3.jpg|''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' appearance. GranblueKarin.png Karin pt.png IMG_0713.PNG Trivia *Karin Kanzuki bears many similarities with Lili Rochefort from Tekken. Navigation pl:Karin Kanzuki Category:Female Category:Video Game Heroes Category:Street Fighter Heroes Category:Teenagers Category:Crossover Heroes Category:Monarchs Category:Heroic Jerks Category:Anime Heroes Category:Magic Category:Rivals Category:Wealthy Category:Fighter Category:Martial Artists Category:Manga Heroes Category:Extravagant Category:Good Vs. Good Category:Big Good Category:Spoiled Sweet Category:Businessmen Category:Cartoon Heroes Category:Sophisticated Category:Arrogant Category:Determinators Category:Strong-Willed Category:Supporters Category:Control Freaks Category:Aristocrats Category:Voice of Reason Category:Comic Book Heroes Category:Wise Category:Successors Category:Outright Category:Loyal Category:Seductress